Tag: Poverty

There are stories of Iran that mainstream media unfortunately refuse to cover. These days it is all talk about the smiling “moderate” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani launching his second term.

One dark side of Iran the mullahs’ regime have kept a lid on is the status of Iran’s young women. Despite having a highly educated young population, with women comprising the majority of Iranians going to college, the end result, however, is mostly heartbreaking.

Shahindokht is a young woman in her twenties working at a women’s clothes shop in Tehran’s Haft-e Teer Square. When interviewed she did not allow the reporter from Iran’s state ILNA news agency take photo of the store she works in, not even a small shot for a video-take, and nor will she allow the reporter name the store. She is afraid. Afraid of losing the job she was lucky to even find. When she talks about her conditions, one gets more familiar with the drastic circumstances young Iranian women are enduring these days:

“I was in my last year of college, unemployed and literally broke to the point that I was going crazy. My father had been unemployed for a few years and barely making ends meet. He had been a factory worker and I don’t know how he was retired after 20 years, while earning less in comparison to others like him. My older brother drove taxis for a while, until he became a drug addict. For the past few years he sleeps until noon at home, then smokes one cigarette after another until evening. He may work a few hours, just to make his drug money. And that’s it.”
She wants to share more of her pains, about life and her family, about a sister who has divorced, a mother who soon will most likely be diagnosed with Alzheimer… but she prefers to talk about her job, about working in the clothing store:

“For a few days I would buy a newspaper and look through the ads. I couldn’t find a job in my field, history. As I looked more I started to become hopeless. I came to understand I either had to start selling on the streets or down in the metro, or take a job as a typist or a salesperson. Typing wasn’t easy for me. I started looking for stores selling women’s clothing, and finally, a month later, I found this place. The day when I came for the interview there were many women in line. Such a long line, you should’ve seen it.”

Now it’s exactly eight months since Shahindokht is selling women’s clothing, and as she said, living on tips and percentage. She doesn’t have a written contract or a fixed paycheck. No insurance either…

“We receive a monthly salary of two million or three million rials in cash from the storeowner (the equivalent of around $100), for cleaning the place, making tea, providing some service. The rest is from how much we sell. At New Year my salary reached 15 million rials (around $500), but now it’s mostly no more than seven to eight million. I am waiting for late August and September. With schools and colleges opening, young ladies and school girls come flocking in to this square to buy new clothes. That’s when we sellers see better days…”

In the middle of her sentence two or three ladies enter the store. Shahindokht looked in despair, upset at why she had been standing outside talking. She has to go in or else the other sellers will receive the percentage, and who knows when two or three more customers will come by this store again.

There are many such young women in Iran’s huge capital, Tehran. Women who are deprived of having a decent job, forced to work in such conditions without a guaranteed future… These women can only afford a very minimum lifestyle if their storeowners are lucky in their sales… if not, they just come and go. Meaningless labor, without any light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

This is the destiny awaiting young educated women in Iran ruled by the mullahs’ regime.

We were recently witness to the first debate of Iran’s 2017 presidential election, which can be evaluated from a variety of perspectives. One simple conclusion is that all candidates failed to provide any hope for a better future.

Remembering how the 2009 debates paved the way for nationwide uprisings, rattling the regime’s entire establishment, this year’s debate was shortened in timing to prevent any uncontrollable sparks. Despite all this, the arguments provided a vivid view into the regime’s critical domestic crises.

More important is the fact that, similar to all previous so-called “elections” in this regime, no candidate was able to provide a comprehensive political and economic agenda. Twelve rounds of presidential elections, parliamentary polls, and votes for city councils have provided nothing but more of the same.

Why is it that nothing changes in Iran? Why is it that with a new president in the U.S., all policies are completely refurbished, including immigration, health, education, and so forth? The Trump administration’s foreign policy is being overhauled, to say the least.

Why is it that in smaller countries more similar to Iran – say, the Philippines, Chile, or Turkey – a new government brings with it changes across the spectrum in people’s lives, all linked to the state’s domestic and foreign policies?

Yet when it comes to Iran, we see nothing but a cycle of the same factions coming and going, while further plundering the country’s wealth and making the least difference in people’s lives.

The reason must be pursued in the very roots and nature of this regime. This is a dictatorship ruled by the four percent, as described by presidential candidate and Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in the recent debate. A vast 96% majority of Iran’s population remains under the wrath of this cruel minority that relies on a completely fascist-minded set of laws resembling anything but a constitution.

And when elections are held, all candidates are vigorously vetted by the Guardian Council, a body of 12 conservative clerics, of whom six are appointed directly and the other six indirectly by the supreme leader himself. And when a president is actually selected, he is nothing more than a puppet, acting according to the supreme leader’s will. Based on the regime’s “constitution,” the president’s authority must be confirmed by the supreme leader no matter what the people have “voted.”

All this brings us to a certain set of conclusions:

Firstly – The president in Iran has no true power or authority, as the supreme leader enjoys the final say in all subjects, including national security and foreign affairs.

Secondly – No regime president has ever had any specific economic-social agenda. Assuming any one of them had prepared such a blueprint, his agenda would need to be in complete compliance with the supreme leader’s demands.

Thus, one may ask the purpose of holding elections in such an establishment.

Mohammad-Tai Mesbah-Yazdi, an influential senior cleric in the mullahs’ ruling elite, provided probably the best response in an interview:

Elections have two purposes[.] … [T]he nation considers itself involved in establishing a religious state. As a result, they will further strive in supporting a state established with their backing, leading to the realization of important religious state goals.

The second purpose is … the importance of the people’s role and votes disarming opponents. They intended to depict this Islamic establishment as authoritarian. However, when the people’s votes are respected, opponents will lose all excuses[.]

This brings us back to our initial argument: as faces change in this regime, it is to no avail for the greater good of the people.

For example:

The so-called “reformist” Mohammad Khatami, Iran’s president from 1997 to 2005, doubled the number of executions in comparison to 1996 and quadrupled them in comparison to 1995!

The so-called “principalist” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was even worse, and the “moderate” Hassan Rouhani has stood above all with a record of 3,000 executions in four years.

The mullahs’ own laws define around 1,800 counts of crimes that people must not commit! The slate includes what clothes to wear, what to eat, what to read, and what satellite TV they are permitted to watch. It is worth noting that France has only 300 such criminal measures.

Innocent little lives destroyed due to poverty imposed by the regime ruling Iran

What is the definition of child labour? These are small #Childrenwho are constantly placed at work and mostly deprived of going to school and enjoying their precious childhood. Child labour is banned in many countries and considered so by many international organisations due to the physical and psychological damages inflicted.

“The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is a human rights treaty which set out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children,” as described by Wikipedia. This text aims to defend children’s rights and was adopted in 1990 after ten years of negotiations amongst the UN Member States.

June 12th is commemorated as Child #Labor Day to raise awareness annually on this issue and prevent the spread of this deplorable phenomenon.

The situation in Iran

In #iran under the mullahs’ rule, however, there are cases of children being sold or families having no choice but sending them off to work. Poverty imposed by the mullahs’ regime is forcing parents to such measures in order to make ends meet.

There are no exact statistics of how many labour children can be found in Iran.

“Around 3 million children are working across the country, according to government organisations. However, investigations carried out by popular organisations indicate over 7 million such children spread throughout Iran. Government statistics show around 20,000 such labour children in Tehran alone. In various areas, these children lack any official identification papers and small girls are also seen working as maids.

Most labour children are forced to accept arranged marriages once they reach the age of 10 to 12, according to Tehran’s City Council Social Committee Chairman.

Most of these children are deprived of any education as official numbers show at least 30% of these children don’t go to school, 31% are aged between 6 to 11 and 9% are actually below the age of 6. Unbelievably, 60% of these children are their families’ only source of income.

With each passing day reports show such labour children are involved in a variety of different areas of work. Some are even used to clean the carcases of animals killed for meat. Some are involved in household jobs, others in factories and even carrying heavy loads in provinces bordering neighbouring countries where smugglers are active.

Contracting firms are known to use Afghan migrants’ children to search trash fields for a variety of goods that may be found for sale.

Even more numbers

Research shows 45% of labour children and those living on the streets are suffering from illnesses such as AIDS, hepatitis and others. These children are also known to be suffering from malnutrition, being short in height, low weight, skin illnesses and psychological disorders.

Many such children work at least 6 hours a day and don’t eat even a single decent meal, providing the grounds for these children to obtain even more illnesses.

A large number of these children are seen carrying heavy loads and begin suffering from back problems at a very early age. And since they have no access to medical care, such an illness paves the path for even more problems further down the road.

Despite enduring all this suffering these children only receive one fifth of a normal worker’s salary. However, a long slate of risks continuously threatens their lives. If they suffer any injuries, there is no entity willing to provide any support at all.

Those children who are obligated to help their families make ends meet, those who do not have proper IDs, find themselves being sold by their families, not knowing where they will end up.

Iran’s children are suffering from such conditions while year after year the regime provides huge budgets for its vast security, military, political and propaganda machine. For example, 150 trillion tomans (around $42.86 billion) is allocated to state-run TV and radio stations.

Children addicted to drugs are victims of the corrupt mullahs’ regime in Iran. The numbers have been rising at an alarming rate. In other words, the subject of babies born as drug-addicts is yet another atrocity in the Iranian people’s puzzle of pains and poverty.

Women who have fallen victims to drugs bring to life innocent newborns and transfer this horrific inheritance to their children.

Mostafa Saraj, Director of the City Health Department in Tehran Province referred to the fact that 80 to 90 percent of babies born from drug-addicted mothers lose their lives.

“The death of these newborns in nurseries is quite common and we cannot do anything,” he said according to the Salamat News website.

Iran’s startling numbers

Various organisations report 73% of children suffering from drug addiction are boys and 27% are girls. 31% of these children have not reached the age of going to school, 36% have not gone to school, 20% have dropped out of school and 13% are currently in school. Most of these children are in elementary school.

Drug addiction amongst school children is on the rise due to using “industrial, psychedelics and chemical narcotics”, according to Hassan Mousavi Chalak, head of the Iran Aid Workers Association.

Groups involved in smuggling and distributing narcotics target young schoolchildren as they can be a source of income for years to come, he added.

The budget allocated to confront and prevent drug addiction amongst schoolchildren is far below what is necessary.

“In today’s world, $20 is spent for each student in the fight against drug addiction, while in Iran we are spending half a dollar,” chair of the Iranian parliament’s Education & Research Commission said.

Confirming statistics of 30,000 drug addicts amongst Iran’s schoolchildren, he called on the regime’s officials to blueprint a plan for this issue.

Facts show Iran is in the path of the world’s most active narcotics highway. Despite all the country’s borders being supposedly closed to drug smugglers, a number ofdrugsfound in Iran is literally unbelievable.

Regime does nothing

Unfortunately, the regime in Iran prefers to have the youth involved in drugs to quell their voice and silence any questioning of the mullahs’ rule. A program by state TV in Iran admitted the drug addiction age has decreased to eight, meaning even small children are now targeted.

How can such a young child become so easily addicted? Many experts argue the reason is drugs in Iran are very easy to obtain. Numbers show these narcotics can be purchased much faster than standing in line at a bakery for a loaf of bread.

All this is taking place at a time when the mullahs’ regime in Iran is continuously jailing and/or executing people under the pretext of drug smuggling, claiming a role in fighting drugs. However, how true is this claim?

“Poverty, people resorting to living in city outskirts and the increasing issue of drug addiction are spreading like a disease across the country while no short or long-term plan is seen to prevent this phenomenon… andchildrenare the main victims,” an expert said, shedding light how Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has failed to take any action in this regard.

“In our hospitals, no care is provided until a child reaches the overdose stage. Iran’s medical system has no initiative to help child drug addicts rehabilitate,” he continued.

Unfortunately, each day three or four babies are born #Addicted To Drugs. Iran is also home to two million child workers. No institution in the #iranian regime has any responsibility to take any action on babies being born addicted and the alarming trend of children becoming addicted to drugs. We are also witnessing how poverty is forcing families to literally sell their newborns.

As long as Iran continues to execute low-profile drug dealers and no action is taken against those in power in Tehran, we will only witness more of the same.

The mullahs ruling Iran are actually encouraging, and forcing, families to wed off their girls at young ages

Yet another hideous phenomenon seen in #iran under the mullahs’ rule is the unthinkable practice of children forced off to mandatory #Marriages. The victims, who are placed into such situations at extremely young ages due to poverty, are left to face physical and psychological damages.

Young girls are the main targets of such inhumane measures, with the mullahs institutionalising these acts under Iran’s misogynist laws. And yet, based on human rights covenants, “child marriages” are considered acts of slavery and crimes against humanity. In such marriages, girls are actually sold to relieve their families of their economic burdens.

Iran’s children damaged in early marriages

This shocking phenomenon is so widespread the regime’s own state-run media is forced to react. The depth of this disaster can be comprehended from the words of an Iranian regime official, “Currently, 43,000 girls between the ages of 10 to 15 are married.”

“We have even witnessed girls under the age of 10 getting married,” said Shahindokht Molavardi, Iran’s deputy vice president.

There are families who cannot make ends meet and force their girls into marriages with individuals twice their age, according to a report wired by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency. In Iran, 890,000 girls under the age of 18 were married off from 2006 to 2015.

“Iran has 10 million completely illiterate and another 10 million semi-illiterate individuals across the country. These are dangerous statistics and are directly related to the number of child marriages,” state-run Mehr news agency reported.

“The income division in Iran is yet another reason behind increasing child marriages,” the report reads.

“17% of all marriages are related to girls under the age of 18 and in 2015 more than 5% of all marriages were registered to individuals under the age of 15. These statistics do not include non-registered marriages.”

According to Iran’s civil law girls are permitted to marry at the age of 13 and boys at 15. This reactionary law even permits marriages prior to these ages, only in need of permission from a court and the parents.

“If these two parties confirm, #Children at the age of six can be legally married,” said Iranian MP Fateme Zolqadr in reference to this law.

Shahla E’zazi, a sociologist and member of the Tabatabaie University Board of Science said in 2015 the number of child marriages increased by 10,000 in comparison to 2014 and their divorces have also increased.

In Iran under the religious fascist mullahs’ rule access to true statistics of child marriages is impossible and the media expressed in the regime’s controlled media most certainly reflect only a tip of the iceberg.

Iran’s mullahs encouraging child marriages

Considering all the damages caused by child marriages, the ruling mullahs in Iran continue to promote such a practice. Mullah Mohsen Ghera’ati made repulsive remarks in this regard.

“There must be an urgency regarding marriages. Boys and girls must get married in high school (and not in college),” he said. This is a clear resemblance of the mullah’s misogynist ideology.

Children involved in early marriages suffer social and physical damages. The social damages includes unregistered marriages, lack of identification papers, number of “child widows” on the rise, violence at home and spouse beatings, significant rise in population of city outskirt residents, prostitution, children fleeing their homes, number of homeless people, deprivation from education, significant age different between spouses, self-immolation and suicides, low social and legal support, rise in drug addiction, lack of skills to enter the job market, lack of knowledge to grow children, rise in poverty and rise in child workers. (State-run Iran Online website)

Officials sidestep this issue, as is clear in remarks made by the Iranian Deputy for Social Affairs, who claimed that the reason the issue is not being resolved is that there are too many organizations trying to tackle it, and not enough coordination among them. Similar assertions were made in a state TV program on the topic earlier this month.

Anyone versed in the topic, however, knows that the real culprit is the nationwide poverty caused by the atrocious economic policies imposed by the mullah-led regime. People who are not hungry do not send their children into the streets to beg or look for work, when they should be in school and enjoying the precious years of their youth.

Even the state-run Salamat News website admitted that the regime’s repressive plans aimed at containing social crises have completely backfired.

“Rounding up drug addicts, homeless people living in the streets, runaway girls, beggars and many others that have ended up in such situations as a result of poverty and the class gap in our society have ended in failure as a result of hasty measures carried out by authorities,” its report reads.

Other reports indicate the middle class in Iran has nearly vanished altogether.

“One of the simplest methods thought about by each official after they come to office is to round up such individuals. There was hope to resolve this issue from our society, yet due to known reasons these individuals have only been seen fleeing and returning to the streets. In the past 12 months, there have been many different plans and efforts launched by the municipality and the police, most leading to nothing but failures,” the website added.

Many Iranian officials, too, have admitted that the practice of rounding up people and holding them in special centers is not a strategic solution to the problem. They now acknowledge that the real solution would be to improve the public’s living conditions through major economic reforms.

Of course, the mullahs — whose plundering has left nothing for the people and who hae wasted billions in the nuclear program and global terrorism — will have nothing to do with such suggestions, and therefore any expectation from Tehran in this regard is an illusion.

Indeed, as long as they remain at the helm, no end to these woes will be in sight.

More and more Iranian college students, professors and experts are choosing to seek better opportunities abroad

Harsh crackdown and human rights violations, difficult living conditions under enormous pressures, and colossal education costs in Iran under the mullahs’ regime is leaving no choice other than leaving the country for Iran’s university students, professors and a variety of experts. This situation has become so extreme that currently Iran ranks first in the globe regarding the brain drain phenomenon. The scope of the damage caused by this reality is now and then resembled very vaguely in state-run media, revealing the irrecoverable nature of this disaster.

In Iran’s own media

“What is truly harmful and will inflict severe damages on a national scale is our inability to have students educating abroad return to the country after completing their studies. What is worse is our inability to keep our own experts inside the country, and to establish the necessary circumstances in which these individuals see their psychological and spiritual security, adequate position and a decent life guaranteed not in Iran, but in the United States,” the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

“Why are we witnessing an increase in the brain drain phenomenon and less and less students willing to seek higher education,” the state-run Mardom Salari daily wrote.

The state-run Fars news agency, affiliated to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, also reported an increasing number of #College Students and professors leaving Iran, inflicting irrecoverable damages for the country. The number of Iranian college students immigrating to the U.S. has more than doubled, according to the IRGC Quds Force-affiliated Tasnim news agency.

Official reports show a 220% increase in the number of Iranian students immigrating. This disturbing brain drain trend in Iran has reached a point where 150,000 such individuals are leaving the country each year, and regime experts have at times described this ongoing current as “cultural suicide” or “intellectual suicide” for the entire country.

Irrecoverable for Iran

To shed more light on the massive impact of this issue, the estimated collateral damage from the Iranbrain drain phenomenon, with students going to the United States, is estimated to be valued more than Iran’s assets frozen in the U.S. Another element increasing the number of college students and experts leaving Iran is the lack of adequate learning conditions. The low level of universities and other learning facilities across the country.

As a result, more students are seen seeking better education scientific and research opportunities abroad. However, as their education comes to an end, they refuse to return to Iran, knowing all too well adequate conditions are not available. Unemployment and lack of opportunity is among the various reasons behind individuals with high degrees and expertise leaving the country.

More than 50% of Iran’s educated are unemployed and others are actually working in construction sites, or have resorted to trade, resembling anything but their studies. It is also crystal clear that crackdown conditions and the mullahs’ dictatorship in Iran actually plays the number one role in the country’s educated experts seeking a new life abroad.

The motivation behind most of this immigration is the fact that Iranians cannot tolerate the mullahs’ despotism imposing unbearable political and social limitations. The unfortunate truth is that as long as the mullahs are in power, we will only witness an increasing number of college students and experts leaving Iran for good.

Tensions continue to rise between the new US administration and Iran with a series of actions and reactions. Most recently, Iran has launched a new round of military drills, embarking on more provocative actions, while US allies such as Saudi Arabia and Israel have joined in by issuing what is described as twin warnings to Iran.

All the while, what should not go neglected is the simmering status inside Iran. The society is considered a powder keg as unrest continues to grow after 38 years of the mullahs’ atrocious dictatorship. The last four years of the so-called “moderate” or “reformist” Iranian President Hassan Rowhani has also failed to yield any demands raised by the people despite claiming to hold the “key” to all problems.

The city of Ahwaz in southwest Iran has been the scene of continuous unrest, as locals are protesting a slate of disastrous plans implemented by the mullahs’ regime to reroute Karoon River, a major source of water for agriculture and other vital aspects of life in this area where the summer is scorching hot.

These projects include also the diversion of waters from Karkhe River, excessive dam construction and the oil ministry resorting to inexpensive oil extraction methods. This practice, mainly implemented by the Revolutionary Guards, has fruited a long list of dried local lakes and ponds.

The result has been nothing but increasing air pollution and water and power being frequently cut off. To this end, the people’s very health is in danger as clean air to breath is literally hard to find.

Banks, administrative offices, schools and universities have been closed in nearly a dozen Khuzestan Province cities. Even oil production, which Tehran seems to boast to have escalated above 4 million barrels per day now, has suffered tremendously with a 770,000-barrel nosedive.

Growing street protests

However, the most concerning aspect of the entire situation for the regime involves the growing number of street protests that began on February 12th and continued for at least a week in the face of numerous warnings issued by the repressive state security apparatus.

And despite heavy security measures to prevent any escalation of such rallies, even a gathering brewed in Tehran’s Vanak Square where protesters expressed solidarity with their fellow countrymen and chanted against the mullahs’ regime.

While demonstrators were protesting the lack of vital daily services, the atmosphere quickly grew political with the crowd beginning to chant “Death to tyranny,” “Death to repression,” “We the people of Ahvaz will not accept oppression,” Expel incompetent officials,” “Ahwaz is our city, clean air is our right,” and “Shame on state police.”

Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi hailed the people of Khuzestan, and especially Ahvaz, while calling on all Iranians to rise in support. The mullahs’ regime is the main source of all major and minor dilemmas in Iran, which in this case has resulted in the people being deprived of water and power services, alongside growing unemployment and rampaging diseases threatening the locals, Rajavi added.

The city of Ahwaz in southwest Iran has been the scene of continuous unrest. (File photo: AFP)

“One cannot expect the mullahs’, the regime’s leaders and officials to provide any solutions,” she added, calling upon the entire nation to support the deprived people of Khuzestan, most especially the ill and vulnerable.

While the province is rich in oil, the locals have yet to enjoy any benefits. Home to one million inhabitants, the city of Ahvaz is plagued by a large number of surrounding petrochemical factories that emit a large scale of pollutants. This has left locals engulfed in environmental challenges reaching the point where the World Health Organization ranked Ahwaz as the world’s most polluted city in 2015.

The situation has been described as “terrible and extremely complex” by activists and locals complaining the regime only seeks to make money from their lands. The regime responded to the unrest by issuing a statement warning people to refrain from “illegal gatherings” and serious action will be taken against any and all violators.

Western reporters banned

Riot police units have also been dispatched to Ahwaz, in addition to additional forces from neighboring provinces. Authorities banned many Western reporters from visiting the city, raising even more concerns about the regime’s true intentions.

Rest assured the scenes witnessed recently in Ahvaz are only a prelude to more intense episodes of future rallies in different cities across the country that will rattle the mullahs’ entire foundation.

The most innocent in Iran are targets of the most unthinkable atrocities

In the past few months, state media and senior Iranian regime officials have issued reports and made startling remarks about the “child-trade” crisis in Iran under the mullahs’ regime. This phenomenon is growing at such a rate that hospitals have literally become hubs for such an inhumane trend.

In his remarks Iran’s Health Organization deputy in social affairs referred to children being sold in Tehran’s hospitals, including state-run hospitals managed by the Health Ministry, adding this issue has become a serious concern, according to state-run Tabnak website. “During the past six months we have witnessed an increase in the number of children sold across the country,” this Iranian official said, according to the Arman Daily website.

Shahindokht Molavardi, the Iranian vice president for women and family affairs, made shocking remarks about #children being sold prior to birth. “We don’t have actual statistics of such newborns. However, the numbers have reached such a high figure the news media has reported on this,” she explained. “Economic poverty, cultural poverty, drug addiction, homelessness and children being sent off to early marriages are amongst the elements that can lead women to sell their children,” Molavardi reiterated, according to state-run Asriran website.

More such threats in Iran

Children involved in such an atrocious trade usually become targets for groups of beggars whose members gain more money if they have newborn children in their arms. Furthermore, these newborns are also prepared to be used for begging in the future.

Gangs involved in drug distribution are also seeking to take advantage of such children, using them to sell drugs in different methods. In more disturbing news, human traffickers are known to purchase such children, using their body parts for an even more horrifying and more profitable market.

Selling children for early and forced marriages are another perspective of this dreadful disaster brought upon Iranian children by the mullahs’ regime. At an age when children are in need of care and love, they are forced into marriages and becoming young mothers. On most occasions, these girls are forced to marry much older men, and at times even decades older.

The organized trade of children by drug gangs and human traffickers is also on the rise in Iran. This has enormously devastating impacts on the society, especially from a security perspective, and specifically placing children in grave danger.

Crises such as drug addiction, becoming homeless, prostitution and … all intensify the child-trade crisis. Such a dilemma is especially increasing in high-population areas, city outskirts and other areas where poverty is widespread. In areas near hospitals in southern Tehran, children are sold at the unbelievable price of one to two million rials (around $25 to $50).

The source in Iran

It is quite clear the root of all these crises, including the child-trade catastrophe, are poor economic conditions and poverty the majority of Iran’s population is engulfed in. While the majority of the Iranian people are living in poverty, Iranian regime officials and their close circles are enjoying a lifestyle of lords in their palaces, penthouses, skyscraper apartments and fancy villas. The money for all this comes from the pockets of ordinary Iranians.

Such disastrous conditions and the increasingly worrisome trend of child-trade resembles a major contradiction and a significant divide in Iran’s society. A society in which a very small percentage of people are controlling nearly the entire economy.

The vast majority of Iranians are living in poverty, lacking basic necessities and suffering from various crises brought to life by the mullahs’ regime in the past 38 years. Such disastrous policies have endangered the entire society in Iran.

The economic reality of Iranian physicians is so bad they are now forced to live in poverty or leave the country for opportunities abroad.

Economic insecurity for physicians in Iran is an increasing problem in the Islamic Republic. After years of college and medical school, one would think that a physician would be considered a national asset, like in all other countries in the world.

Yet, in Iran, many medical professionals are forced to sell mobile phones or drive taxis part times to make ends meet — or leave the country in search of better opportunities abroad.

Fifty percent of Iran’s general physicians are either unemployed or not active in their field, the state-run Alef website reported, citing head of Iran’s General Physicians Association, Alireza Zali.

Living conditions for physicians have deteriorated to an extent that many medical school graduates are even resorting to jobs in construction, according to a report posted on the state-run Tabnak website, working on projects belonging to former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezaie.

“These physicians have very low incomes and live in poor conditions,” Zali said in a report by the official IRNA news agency. “Recently, the Health Ministry said the highest income some physicians are earning is around 18 million rials a month (around $465) … [even] after 20 years of experience there are physicians earning [only]12 million rials a month ($315).”

With half of Iran’s physicians out of work, many are forced to leave the country seeking better opportunities in Europe, Canada and the United States. This trend is increasing with each passing year.

Former Iranian health minister Iraj Faze says 1,980 physicians are departing Iran annually, adding such a trend will leave the country facing a serious shortage of physicians.

“Physicians working in state-run facilities have not received their [pay] … for the past year. As a result, we can’t blame the physicians from leaving a country where they lack social and economic guarantees,” Fazel said in an interview with Etelleat daily.

This issue has reached a point where Iran’s deputy chair of the parliamentary health commission also expressed concerns. “Unfortunately, poor job opportunities and adequate work for all branches of life are some of the country’s most important dilemmas. To this day no cabinet has been able to resolve such issues,” Mohammad Hossein Ghorbani said to Shafa Online.

When physicians in Iran under the mullahs’ rule are forced to leaving the country to seek better living and job conditions, rest assured other professionals – not to mention ordinary workers — are condemned to living a miserable life under extremely harsh conditions.

While physicians may enjoy the option of leaving the country, most of the poverty-stricken people of Iran are forced to endure the burden of extreme poverty as a result of the mullahs’ plundering the country’s increasing wealth.